DENVER — The Denver Auditor's Office on Thursday shared sharp criticism about the design phase of the National Western Livestock Center, which is part of the larger, major redevelopment of the complex.
Two terms that came up frequently during Thursday's meeting were transparency and accountability.
"I don't feel like we made a lot of progress in mitigating these risks, and there was constant back and forth the entire time," Patrick Schafer, senior audit manager at Denver's Auditor's Office, said of his experience gathering information from the project planners and having recommendations be denied.
- Watch Thursday's meeting below
The auditors said they found the design phase had inadequate governance, documentation and oversight so far. They determined the project planners had poor record keeping, a lack of an independent cost estimator, and, in one instance, there was an error in expenses of over $68,000.
The City of Denver disagreed with the majority of the recommendations brought forth by the audit team. In most cases, city officials said what they have done so far is sufficient with city policy and procedure.
"We did hire an independent cost estimator for the construction and cost estimating; that is industry best practice," explained Michael Bouchard, executive director of the National Western Center. "The fact that the cost estimator contracted to [the design team], they still maintain their independence. They're the design team, not the construction team."
- Review the auditor's full report and recommendations below:
"For us, it's always been a question about how is this money being spent and what's the impact of it," said Alfonso Epino, lead organizer of the Globeville Elyria Swansea Coalition.
Residents in the Globeville, Elyria, and Swansea neighborhoods have long pushed back against the expansion with concerns about potential gentrification, displacement, and whether the community will share in the project's benefits.
Denver7 also spoke with Shannon Hoffman, the project manager for the Community Investment Fund, a community-led initiative created in 2017 as part of the original partnership agreement for the redevelopment. The fund aims to support local projects that foster healthy, thriving neighborhoods, particularly for residents impacted by decades of underinvestment and harmful policies.
The Community Investment Fund has asked for $16 million to mitigate the impact the project will have on the surrounding neighborhoods. Hoffman told Denver7 it's important for the public to keep an eye on how their tax dollars are being spent.
"It's important for the public to really be considering how our dollars are being spent when this is one of the largest public investment projects in our city. It's now about a $1.6 billion public investment," said Hoffman. "When we have major cuts in our city budget, upwards of $200 million, understanding how $1.6 billion is being spent and if it's being spent well and fairly, should be really important to people all over the city."
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"The recommendations that [the Denver Auditor's Office] made seem very sensible, and for us are going to be instrumental in really measuring the sort of relationships that the National Western Center intends to carry out into the neighborhoods," said Espino.
The Auditor's Office also announced it plans to conduct an audit of the National Western project and its funding in 2026.
